McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet

Selecting the winner

With the elimination of the F-18L on November 23, 1978 the NFA project moved into its final phase. In order to expedite the eventual order, the NFA project office started negotiating contracts with both companies with the understanding that one would be selected once a final decision had been made.

Douglas (prior to the formation of McDonnell Douglas) had been building tail assemblies for the DC-9 at the former Avro Canada factories at the Toronto International Airport for some time.

Their industrial offset program would include modernizing these plants and moving in additional work to include wings for the KC-10 and MD-11, wings, empennage and cabin floors for the MD-80, as well as side panels and pylons for the F/A-18.

This proposal was greatly worrying to the DITC, and they became much more active in the negotiations.

Their concern was based on existing Defence Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA) between the United States and Canada that was put in place to balance the amount of trade in military goods between the countries.

A major procurement like the NFA meant the United States either had to purchase a similar amount of military equipment from Canada, or alternately offset the purchase though military production in Canada.

A program like Northop's F-18L was purely military in nature, so any production in Canada would be counted against this balance, but the McDonnell Douglas offer was mostly in civilian goods, which had to be accounted separately.

The DITC was concerned that the U.S. government would have to be convinced to re-negotiate the agreement in this case, or make a large military purchase. Neither option seemed straightforward, and would have placed a burden on the DITC's dealings in the future.

While the negotiations with McDonnell Douglas were continuing, Air Canada announced it was purchasing the Lockheed L-1011 to add to its wide-body fleet.

This greatly angered James Smith McDonnell, the Chief Executive Officer of McDonnell Douglas, who personally threatened to cancel his company's participation in the NFA project.

Neither DND and DSS wanted this to happen, and wanted both the F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft to remain in contention for the NFA project.

However, these concerns were later muted when a report was leaked that suggested the F/A-18 was favoured to win the NFA project, and it appeared that the DITC's concerns were going to be overridden.

As a result, McDonnell Douglas became much less vocal about the Air Canada purchase.

Contract negotiations went on throughout 1978 and 1979, continuing through two federal elections.

The proposed contracts were finalized by June, when then new Progressive Conservative Party of Canada formed a minority government.

A lengthy review of the contracts followed, and was completed in early December.

These were tabled to be signed off on December 14, however, on the 13th the Progressive Conservative government failed a vote of non-confidence and the NFA project was set aside.

The Liberal Party of Canada was elected to a majority government in the ensuing elections, and on February 19, 1980 formal negotiations for the NFA project started again.

Rumours that the F/A-18 was the winner had surfaced by this point, and General Dynamics started a campaign to have the selection discarded.

As part of their industrial program, the Pratt & Whitney F100 engines used in the F-16 would be built at Pratt & Whitney Canada in Quebec, which would have been a major windfall for that province.

In late March René Lévesque of the governing Parti Québécois publicly announced that the F-16 should be selected because it would provide Quebec with considerably more than the competing McDonnell Douglas offer.

This led to a meeting between several interested parties in the federal government on April 9, 1980 and after transferring several million dollars from federal projects in Ontario to Quebec the objections disappeared.

The following day (April 10, 1980) the F/A-18 Hornet was officially announced as the winner of the NFA project.

On 16 April the procurement contracts were signed, with a ceiling of $2.369 billion (USD) for 137 aircraft, and an industrial package of C$2.453 billion to be invested by McDonnell Douglas in Canada over a period ending in 1995.

Aftermath

The next day (April 11, 1980) the federal government ran a series of advertisements in national newspapers to explain their choice for the NFA project.

The arguments focused primarily on the financial aspects of the deal. Despite the higher unit cost of the F/A-18 Hornet, the industrial program would more than pay for the entire program.

Reasons for the selection listed by the Canadian Forces included two engines for reliability (considered essential for conducting Arctic sovereignty and over-the-water patrols), an excellent radar set, and a lower cost than the F-14 or F-15.

Nevertheless the press was skeptical of the program, particularly its aircraft carrier-based design, even though Canada operated no aircraft carriers.

As the CBC's As It Happens noted, the F/A-18 could not even fly from Toronto to Montreal without carrying extra fuel.

In spite of outward appearances, the selection of the F/A-18 Hornet for the NFA project was not a "sure thing".

The contract had been left open to the very last minute and continued to see changes even in the weeks immediately before the selection was announced.

Additionally, the F-14 almost ended up being purchased from Iran, as their fleet was facing the prospect of falling into disuse due to a lack of spares in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.

Canadian diplomats tried to convince the Iranians to sell its fleet of eighty almost-new fighters at cut-rate prices. However, the negotiations fell through in the aftermath of the Canadian caper in which six American diplomats were smuggled out of Iran from the Canadian embassy.

A total of 138 aircraft, designated the CF-188 Hornet, were delivered to Canada from 1982 to 1988.

CF-18 design changes

The most visible difference between a CF-18 and a US F-18 is the 0.6 Mcd night identification light.

This spotlight is mounted in the gun loading door on the port side of the aircraft.

Some CF-18s have the light temporarily removed, but the window is always in place.

Also, the underside of the CF-18 features a painted "dummy canopy".

This is intended to disorient and confuse an enemy in air-to-air combat. Subsequently, the U.S. Marine Corps Aviation and the Spanish Air Force F/A-18 also adopted this "dummy canopy."

Many features that made the F/A-18 suitable for naval carrier operations were also retained by the Canadian Forces, such as the robust landing gear, the arrestor hook, and wing folding mechanisms, which proved useful when operating the fighters from smaller airfields such as those found in the Arctic.

Upgrades

The need to upgrade the CF-18 was demonstrated during the Gulf War I deployment and during the 1998 Kosovo conflict as advances in technology had rendered some of the avionics on board the CF-18 obsolescent and incompatible with NATO allies. In 2000, CF-18 upgrades became possible when the government increased the defence budget.

In 2001, the Incremental Modernization Project (IMP) was initiated.

The project was broken into two phases over a period of eight years and was designed to improve air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities, upgrade sensors and the defensive suite, and replace the datalinks and communications systems on board the CF-18 from the old F/A-18A and F/A-18B standard to the current F/A-18C and D standard.

Boeing (merged with McDonnell Douglas) the primary contractor and L-3 Communications the primary subcontractor, was issued a contract for the modernization project starting in 2002.

A total of 80 CF-18s, consisting of 62 single-seat and 18 dual-seat models were selected from the fleet for the upgrade program.

The project is supposed to extend the life of the CF-18 until around 2017 to 2020.

Incremental Modernization Project Phase I

Replacement of the AN/APG-65 radar with the new AN/APG-73 radar, which has triple the processing speed and memory capacity, while also incorporating Terrain Following and Terrain Avoidance modes for low level ground attack missions.

Furthermore, the new AN/APG-73 radar is also capable of guiding the modern AIM-120 AMRAAM medium range missile.

Addition of the AN/APX-111 Combined Interrogator and Transponder, otherwise known as an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe).

The new IFF brings the CF-18 up to current NATO standards for combat identification.

Replacement of the radios with the new AN/ARC-210, RT-1556/ARC VHF/UHF Radio.

This radio, capable of line-of-sight communications on VHF/UHF frequencies as well as HAVE QUICK, HAVE QUICK II, and SINCGARS waveforms resolved the issues of compatibility with allied forces, and are more resistant to jamming.

Replacement of the mission computers with the General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems AN/AYK-14 XN-8 mission computer with increased memory and processing capabilities.

Replacement of the Stores Management System with the Smiths Aerospace AN/AYQ-9 Stores Management System.

This makes the CF-18 more compatible with the latest of precision guided munitions (PGMs) and furthermore adds the MIL-STD-1760 interface for use of the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile and the JDAM family of GPS-guided bombs.

Installation of a Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) capability, enhancing the CF-18's navigational capabilities.

Within the same time frame, other non-IMP upgrades include:

Installation of a new infrared sensor pod.

Replacement of the old cathode ray tube cockpit instrument panels with new flat paneled, full colour LCD displays from Litton Systems Canada (now Northrop Grumman Canada).

Addition of a new night vision imaging system.

Purchase of the AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range missiles and other advanced air to air and air to ground munitions.

Application of a landing gear “get well” program to reduce corrosion and improve gear retraction.

Replacement of the existing CF-18 flight simulators with the Advanced Distributed Combat Training System.

The first completed "Phase I" CF-18 was delivered to the Canadian Forces on time in May 2003.

Final delivery of all "Phase I" CF-18s was done at a ceremony on 31 August 2006 at L-3 Communications in Mirabel, Quebec.